We address the dynamics of higher-order solitons in optical lattices, and predict their self-splitting into the set of their single-soliton constituents. The splitting is induced by the potential introduced by the lattice, together with the imprinting of a phase tilt onto the initial multisoliton states. The phenomenon allows the controllable generation of several coherent solitons linked via their Zakharov-Shabat eigenvalues. Application of the scheme to the generation of correlated matter waves in Bose-Einstein condensates is discussed.
We introduce solitons supported by Bessel photonic lattices in cubic nonlinear media. We show that the cylindrical geometry of the lattice, with several concentric rings, affords unique soliton properties and dynamics. In particular, besides the lowest-order solitons trapped in the center of the lattice, we find soliton families trapped at different lattice rings. Such solitons can be set into controlled rotation inside each ring, thus featuring novel types of in-ring and inter-ring soliton interactions.
We report on phenomenon of Anderson-type localization of walking solitons in optical lattices with random frequency modulation, manifested as dramatic enhancement of soliton trapping probability on lattice inhomogeneities with growth of the frequency fluctuation level. The localization process is strongly sensitive to the lattice depth since in shallow lattices walking solitons experience random refraction and/or multiple scattering in contrast to relatively deep lattices, where solitons are typically immobilized in the vicinity of local minimums on modulation frequency.
We study the soliton mobility in nonlocal nonlinear media with an imprinted fading optical lattice. The results show that the transverse mobility of solitons varies with the lattice decay rate and the nonlocality degree, which provides an opportunity for all-optical control of light.
We address soliton spiraling in optical lattices induced by multiple coherent Bessel beams and show that the dynamical nature of such lattices make them able to drag different soliton structures, setting them into rotation. The rotation rate can be controlled by varying the topological charges of lattice-inducing Bessel beams.
We numerically study the nonlocal gap solitons in parity-time (PT) symmetric optical lattices built into a nonlocal self-focusing medium. We state the existence, stability, and propagation dynamics of such PT gap solitons in detail. Simulated results show that there exist stable gap soltions. The influences of the degree of nonlocality on the soliton power, the energy flow density and the stable region of the PT gap solitons are also examined.
Stable ring vortex solitons, featuring a bright-shape, appear to be very rare in nature. However, here we show that they exist and can be made dynamically stable in defocusing cubic nonlinear media with an imprinted Bessel optical lattice. We find the families of vortex lattice solitons and reveal their salient properties, including the conditions required for their stability. We show that the higher the soliton topological charge, the deeper the lattice modulation necessary for stabilization.
We address Bessel photonic lattices of radial symmetry imprinted in cubic Kerr-type nonlinear media and show that they support families of stable dipole-mode solitons featuring two out-of-phase light spots located in different lattice rings. We show that the radial symmetry of the Bessel lattices afford a variety of unique soliton dynamics including controlled radiation-free rotation of the dipole-mode solitons.
We address azimuthally modulated Bessel optical lattices imprinted in focusing cubic Kerr-type nonlinear media, and reveal that such lattices support different types of stable solitons, whose complexity increases with growth of lattice order. We reveal that the azimuthally modulated lattices cause single solitons launched tangentially to the guiding rings to jump along consecutive sites of the optical lattice. The position of the output channel can be varied by small changes of the launching angle.
We address the formation and propagation of multi-spot soliton packets in saturable Kerr nonlinear media with an imprinted harmonic transverse modulation of the refractive index. We show that, in sharp contrast to homogeneous media where stable multi-peaked solitons do not exist, the photonic lattices support stable higher-order structures in the form of soliton packets, or soliton trains. Intuitively, such trains can be viewed as made of several lowest order solitons bound together with appropriate relative phases and their existence as stable objects puts forward the concept of compact manip…
We reveal the existence of dynamically stable composite topological solitons in Bessel photonic lattices imprinted in focusing Kerr-type nonlinear media. The new stable composite solitons are made of a vortex-ring with unit topological charge incoherently coupled to a fundamental soliton. The stabilization of the otherwise highly azimuthally unstable vortex-rings is provided under suitable conditions, which we study in detail, by cross-phase-modulation coupling with the fundamental soliton companion.
We study both theoretically and experimentally the effect of nonlinearity on topologically protected linear interface modes in a photonic Su-Schrieffer-Heeger (SSH) lattice. It is shown that under either focusing or defocusing nonlinearity, this linear topological mode of the SSH lattice turns into a family of topological gap solitons. These solitons are stable. However, they exhibit only a low amplitude and power and are thus weakly nonlinear, even when the bandgap of the SSH lattice is wide. As a consequence, if the initial beam has modest or high power, it will either delocalize, or evolve …
It is known that eigenvalues of Zakharov-Shabat problem can be used to encode a signal in soliton communication lines. We propose to use dispersion oscillation fiber as a new versalite tool to control the eigenvalues. A fiber with sine-wave variation of the core diameter can be used to manage both real and imaginary parts of the eigenvalues. Change of real part of the eigenvalues results in a splitting of an optical breather into two distinct pulses propagating with the different group velocities. Change of imaginary parts of the eigenvalues allows to realize a reverse process of merge of two …
We address the existence and properties of solitons in thermal media with periodic modulation of linear refractive index. Many kinds of solitons in such optical lattices, including symmetric and antisymmetric lattices, are found under different conditions. We study the influence of the refractive index difference between two different layers on solitons. It is also found that there do not exist cutoff value of propagation constant and soliton power for shifted lattice solitons. In addition, the solitons launched away from their stationary position may propagate without oscillation when the con…
Stability of soliton families in one-dimensional nonlinear Schroedinger equations with non-parity-time (PT)-symmetric complex potentials is investigated numerically. It is shown that these solitons can be linearly stable in a wide range of parameter values both below and above phase transition. In addition, a pseudo-Hamiltonian-Hopf bifurcation is revealed, where pairs of purely-imaginary eigenvalues in the linear-stability spectra of solitons collide and bifurcate off the imaginary axis, creating oscillatory instability, which resembles Hamiltonian-Hopf bifurcations of solitons in Hamiltonian…
We address the properties of optical solitons that form in media with competing cubic-quintic nonlinearity and parity-time(PT)-symmetric complex-valued external potentials. The model describes the propagation of solitons in nonlinear optical waveguides with balanced gain and loss. We study the existence, stability, and robustness of fundamental, dipole, and multipole stationary solutions in this PT-symmetric system. The corresponding eigenvalue spectra diagrams for fundamental, dipole, tripole, and quadrupole solitons are presented. We show that the eigenvalue spectra diagrams for fundamental …
We discuss soliton control in reconfigurable optically-induced photonic lattices created by three interfering beams. We reveal novel dynamical regimes for strongly localized solitons, including binary switching and soliton revivals through resonant wave mixing.
We address the properties of surface solitons supported by optical lattices imprinted in photorefractive media with asymmetric diffusion nonlinearity. Such solitons exist only in finite gaps of lattice spectrum. In contrast to latticeless geometries, where surface waves exist only when nonlinearity deflects light towards the material surface, the surface lattice solitons exist in settings where diffusion would cause beam bending against the surface.
We address soliton transmission and reflection in nonlinear photonic lattices embedded into uniform Kerr nonlinear media. We show that by introducing disorder into the guiding lattice channels, one may achieve soliton transmission even under conditions where regular lattices reflect the input beam completely. In contrast, in the parameter range where the lattice is almost transparent for incoming solitons, disorder may induce a significant reflection.
We introduce multipole soliton complexes in optical lattices induced by nondiffracting parabolic beams. Despite the symmetry-breaking dictated by the curvature of the lattice channels, we find that complex, asymmetric higher-order states can be stable. The unique topology of parabolic lattices affords new types of soliton motion: single solitons launched into the lattice with nonzero transverse momentum perform periodic oscillations along parabolic paths.
We predict new phenomena, such as soliton steering and soliton fission, in optical lattices that fade away exponentially along the propagation direction. Such lattices, featuring tunable decay rates, arise in photorefractive crystals in the wavelength range 360-400 nm. We show that the predicted phenomena offer different opportunities for soliton control.
We study optical solitons in chirped periodic optical lattices whose amplitude or frequency changes in the transverse direction. We discover that soliton propagation in such lattices can be accompanied by the progressive self-bending of the soliton trajectory, and we show that the soliton bending rate and output position can be controlled by varying the lattice depth, as well as the chirp amplitude and frequency modulation rate. This effect has potential applications for controllable soliton steering and routing.
We address light propagation in Vogel optical lattices and show that such lattices support a variety of stable soliton solutions in both self-focusing and self-defocusing media, whose propagation constants belong to domains resembling gaps in the spectrum of a truly periodic lattice. The azimuthally-rich structure of Vogel lattices allows generation of spiraling soliton motion.
We address soliton formation at the edge of chirped optical lattices imprinted in Kerr-type nonlinear media. We find families of power thresholdless surface waves that do not exist at other types of lattice interfaces. Such solitons form due to combined action of internal reflection at the interface, distributed Bragg-type reflection, and focusing nonlinearity. Remarkably, we discover that surfaces of chirped lattices are soliton attractors: Below an energy threshold, solitons launched well within the lattice self-bend toward the interface, and then stick to it.
We study the properties of surface solitons generated at the edge of a semi-infinite photonic lattice in nonlinear quadratic media, namely two-color surface lattice solitons. We analyze the impact of phase mismatch on existence and stability of surface modes, and find novel classes of two-color twisted surface solitons which are stable in a large domain of their existence.
We demonstrate theoretically and experimentally that the transverse instability of coherent soliton stripes can be greatly suppressed or totally eliminated when the soliton stripes propagate in a one-dimensional photonic lattice under self-defocusing nonlinearity.
We consider soliton dynamics and stability in a nonlinear lattice formed by alternating domains with focusing cubic and saturable nonlinearities. We find that in such lattices solitons centered on cubic domains may be stabilized even in two-dimensional geometries, in spite of their intrinsic catastrophic instability in the absence of the lattice. Solitons centered on saturable domains are always unstable.
We consider parametric amplification of two-dimensional spatial soliton swinging in longitudinally modulated harmonic and Bessel lattices in Kerr-type saturable medium. We show that soliton center oscillations along different axes in two-dimensional lattices are coupled, which give rise to a number of interesting propagation scenarios including periodic damping and excitation of soliton oscillations along perpendicular axes, selective amplification of soliton swinging along one of transverse axes and enhancement of soliton spiraling.
We demonstrate second-band bright vortex-array solitons in photonic lattices. This constitutes the first experimental observation of higher-band solitons in any 2D periodic system. These solitons possess complex intensity and phase structures, yet they can be excited by a simple highly-localized vortex-ring beam. Finally, we show that the linear diffraction of such beams exhibits preferential transport along the lattice axes.
We address surface solitons supported by the interface of optical lattices imprinted in saturable media with surface-localized gain. The nonlinearity saturation puts restrictions on the maximal energy flow carried by surface solitons. As a consequence, the presence of thin amplifying layer near the surface results in the controllable emission of solitons towards the lattice at angles depending on the amplification rate and on lattice depth.
We introduce soliton percolation phenomena in the nonlinear transport of light packets in suitable optical lattices with random properties. Specifically, we address lattices with a gradient of the refractive index in the transverse plane, featuring stochastic phase or amplitude fluctuations, and we discover the existence of a disorder-induced transition between soliton-insu-lator and soliton-conductor regimes. The soliton current is found to reach its maximal value at intermediate disorder levels and to drastically decrease in both, almost regular and strongly disordered lattices.
We address basic properties and stability of two-dimensional solitons in photonic lattices induced by the nondiffracting Mathieu beams. Such lattices allow for smooth topological transformation of radially symmetric Bessel lattices into quasi-one-dimensional periodic ones. The transformation of lattice topology drastically affects properties of ground-state and dipole-mode solitons, including their shape, stability and transverse mobility.
We study basic properties of quiescent and rotating multipole-mode solitons supported by axially symmetric Bessel lattices in a medium with defocusing cubic nonlinearity. The solitons can be found in different rings of the lattice and are stable when the propagation constant exceeds the critical value, provided that the lattice is deep enough. In a high-power limit the multipole-mode solitons feature a multi-ring structure.
Stability of solitons in parity-time (PT)-symmetric periodic potentials (optical lattices) is analyzed in both one- and two-dimensional systems. First we show analytically that when the strength of the gain-loss component in the PT lattice rises above a certain threshold (phase-transition point), an infinite number of linear Bloch bands turn complex simultaneously. Second, we show that while stable families of solitons can exist in PT lattices, increasing the gain-loss component has an overall destabilizing effect on soliton propagation. Specifically, when the gain-loss component increases, th…
Fundamental and vortex solitons in a two-dimensional optically induced waveguide array are reported. In the strong localization regime, the fundamental soliton is largely confined to one lattice site, while the vortex state comprises of four fundamental modes superimposed in a square configuration with a phase structure that is topologically equivalent to the conventional vortex. However, in the weak localization regime, both the fundamental and vortex solitons spread over many lattice sites. We further show that fundamental and vortex solitons are stable against small perturbations in the str…
We report on the phenomenon of controllable soliton dragging by dynamical optical lattices induced by three imbalanced interfering plane waves. Because of such an imbalance, the transverse momentum of the lattice does not vanish, and thus the dynamical lattice can cause soliton dragging. The dragging rate is shown to depend on the amplitude and on the angle of incidence of the third plane wave making the optical lattice.
We address the existence and stability of two-dimensional solitons in optical or matter-wave media, which are supported by purely nonlinear lattices in the form of a periodic array of cylinders with self-focusing nonlinearity, embedded into a linear material. We show that such lattices can stabilize two-dimensional solitons against collapse. We also found that stable multipoles and vortex solitons are also supported by the nonlinear lattices, provided that the nonlinearity exhibits saturation.
We reveal that lattice interfaces imprinted in nonlocal nonlinear media support surface solitons that do not exist in other similar settings, including interfaces of local and nonlocal uniform materials. We show the impact of nonlocality on the domains of existence and stability of the surface solitons, focusing on new types of dipole solitons residing partially inside the optical lattice. We find that such solitons feature strongly asymmetric shapes and that they are stable in large parts of their existence domain.
We address the concept of guiding and transporting matter-wave solitons along the channels of optical lattices made by interference patterns of beams containing topological wavefront dislocations. The local lattice distortions that occur around the dislocations cause solitons to move along reconfigurable paths, a phenomenon that may be used for controlled all-optical manipulation of Bose-Einstein condensates. Multiple dislocations form traps that can capture and hold moving solitons.
We address the properties and dynamical stability of one-dimensional vector lattice solitons in Kerr-type cubic medium with harmonic transverse modulation of refractive index. We discovered that unstable families of scalar lattice solitons can be stabilized via the cross-phase modulation (XPM) in the vector case. It was found that multi-humped vector solitons that are unstable in uniform media where XPM strength is higher than that of self-phase modulation, can also be stabilized by the lattice.
We report the existence of transversely stable soliton trains in optics. These stable soliton trains are found in two-dimensional square photonic lattices when they bifurcate from X-symmetry points with saddle-shaped diffraction inside the first Bloch band and their amplitudes are above a certain threshold. We also show that soliton trains with low amplitudes or bifurcated from edges of the first Bloch band (Gamma and M points) still suffer transverse instability. These results are obtained in the continuous lattice model and further corroborated by the discrete model.
An optical four-level atomic discrete system through optical induction is proposed. A theoretical scheme to produce nonclassical lattice solitons (NLS) in the system is presented with the use of the effects of enhanced self-phase modulation and the giant kerr effect in the electromagnetically induced transparency. The power density and the photon flux can be tuned to a very low level by the controlling field and the soliton can propagate with very slow group velocity. By changing the sign of the detuning $Δ_{1}$, both in-phase and $π$ out-of-phase NLSs can be produced in this system.
We address the formation and propagation of vector solitons in optical lattices in the presence of anisotropy-induced walk-off between ordinary and extraordinary polarized field components. Stable vector solitons trapped by the lattice form above a threshold power, while decreasing the lattice depth below a critical value results in the abrupt release of the caged solitons, that then move across the lattice and may get trapped in a desired lattice channel.
We consider the propagation of solitons in media with an imprinted transverse periodic or parabolic refractive index modulation when the modulation depth slightly fluctuates along the propagation direction. We find that, under suitable spectral resonance conditions, small transverse soliton oscillations may get parametrically amplified.
We theoretically study discrete photonic lattices in more than three dimensions and point out that such systems can exist in continuous three-dimensional (3D) space. We study discrete diffraction in the linear regime, and predict the existence of four-dimensional (4D) tesseract solitons in nonlinear 4D periodic photonic lattices. Finally, we propose a design towards a potential realization of such periodic 4D lattices in experiments.
We put forward new properties of lattice solitons in materials and geometries where both, the linear refractive index and the nonlinearity are spatially modulated. We show that the interplay between linear and out-of-phase nonlinear refractive index modulations results in new soliton properties, including modifications of the soliton stability and transverse mobility, as well as shape transformations that may be controlled, e.g., by varying the light intensity.
We have investigated mixed-gap vector solitons involving incoherently coupled fundamental and dipole components in a parity-time (PT) symmetric lattice with saturable nonlinearity. For the focusing case, vector solitons emerge from the semi-infinite and the first finite gaps, while for the defocusing case, vector solitons emerge from the first finite and the second finite gaps. For both cases, we find that stronger saturable nonlinearity is relative to sharper increase/decrease of soliton power with propagation constant and to narrower existence domain of vector solitons. This finding is helpf…
We predict multiband vector Plasmonic Lattice Solitons (PLSs) in metal-dielectric waveguide arrays, in both focusing and defocusing nonlinearities. Such vector solitons consist of two components originating from different transmission bands. By simulating the full nonlinear Maxwell equations (MEs), we demonstrate the diffractionless propagation of vector PLSs and their discrete diffraction when only one component is present. Their subwavelength size characteristics and the influences of metallic losses are also studied.
We present a theoretical study of plasmonic lattice solitons (PLSs) formed in two-dimensional (2D) arrays of metallic nanowires embedded into a nonlinear medium with Kerr nonlinearity. We analyze two classes of 2D PLSs families, namely, fundamental and vortical PLSs in both focusing and defocusing media. Their existence, stability, and subwavelength spatial confinement are studied in detail.
We demonstrate numerically that partially incoherent light can be trapped in the spectral band gaps of a photonic lattice, creating partially incoherent multi-component spatial optical solitons in a self-defocusing nonlinear periodic medium. We find numerically such incoherent multi-gap optical solitons and discuss how to generate them in experiment by interfering incoherent light beams at the input of a nonlinear periodic medium.
The existence and stability of defect solitons in parity-time (PT) symmetric optical lattices with nonlocal nonlinearity are reported. It is found that nonlocality can expand the stability region of defect solitons. For positive or zero defects, fundamental and dipole solitons can exist stably in the semi-infinite gap and the first gap, respectively. For negative defects, fundamental solitons can be stable in both the semi-infinite gap and the first gap, whereas dipole solitons are unstable in the first gap. There exist a maximum degree of nonlocal nonlinearity, above which the fundamental sol…
Properties of localized states on array of BEC confined to a potential, representing superposition of linear and nonlinear optical lattices are investigated. For a shallow lattice case the coupled mode system has been derived. The modulational instability of nonlinear plane waves is analyzed. We revealed new types of gap solitons and studied their stability. For the first time a moving soliton solution has been found. Analytical predictions are confirmed by numerical simulations of the Gross-Pitaevskii equation with jointly acting linear and nonlinear periodic potentials.
We report on the experimental observation of two-dimensional solitons at the interface between square and hexagonal waveguide arrays. In addition to the different symmetry of the lattices, the influence of a varying refractive index modulation depth is investigated. Such variation strongly affects the properties of surface solitons residing at different sides of the interface.
We address the properties of fully three-dimensional solitons in complex parity-time (PT)-symmetric periodic lattices with focusing Kerr nonlinearity, and uncover that such lattices can stabilize both, fundamental and vortex-carrying soliton states. The imaginary part of the lattice induces internal currents in the solitons that strongly affect their domains of existence and stability. The domain of stability for fundamental solitons can extend nearly up to the PT-symmetry breaking point, where the linear lattice spectrum becomes complex. Vortex solitons feature spatially asymmetric profiles i…
We address spectral tunneling of walking spatial solitons in photorefractive media with nonlocal diffusion of the nonlinear response and an imprinted shallow optical lattice. In contrast to materials with local nonlinearities, where solitons travelling across the lattice close to the Bragg angle suffer large radiative losses, in photorefractive media with diffusion nonlinearity resulting in self-bending solitons survive when their propagation angle approaches and even exceeds the Bragg angle. In the spatial frequency domain this effect can be considered as tunneling through the band of spatial…
We experimentally demonstrate the formation and stable propagation of various types of discrete temporal solitons in an optical fiber system. Pulses interacting with a time-periodic potential and defocusing nonlinearity are shown to form gap solitons and nonlinear truncated Bloch waves. Multi-pulse solitons with defects, as well as novel structures composed of a strong soliton riding on a weaker truncated nonlinear Bloch wave are shown to propagate over up to eleven coupling lengths. The nonlinear dynamics of all pulse structures is monitored over the full propagation distance which provides d…
Stability of off-site vortex solitons in a photorefractive optical lattice is analyzed. It is shown that such solitons are linearly unstable in both the high and low intensity limits. In the high-intensity limit, the vortex looks like a familiar ring vortex, and it suffers oscillatory instabilities. In the low-intensity limit, the vortex suffers both oscillatory and Vakhitov-Kolokolov instabilities. However, in the moderate-intensity regime, the vortex becomes stable if the lattice intensity or the applied voltage is above a certain threshold value. Stability regions of vortices are also deter…
We address vortex solitons supported by optical lattices featuring modulation of both the linear and nonlinear refractive indices. We find that when the modulation is out-of-phase the competition between both effects results in remarkable shape transformations of the solitons which profoundly affect their properties and stability. Nonlinear refractive index modulation is found to impose restrictions on the maximal power of off-site solitons, which are shown to be stable only below a maximum nonlinearity modulation depth.
I study vector solitons involving two incoherently-coupled field components in periodic PT-symmetric optical lattices. The specific symmetry of the lattice imposes the restrictions on the symmetry of available vector soliton states. While all configurations with asymmetric intensity distributions are prohibited, such lattices support multi-hump solitons with equal number of "in-phase" or "out-of-phase" spots in two components, residing on neighboring lattice channels. In the focusing medium only the solitons containing out-of-phase spots in at least one component can be stable, while in the de…
We consider two-component solitons in a medium with a periodic modulation of the nonlinear coefficient. The modulation enables the existence of complex multihump vector states. In particular, vector solitons composed of dipole and fundamental, or dipole and even double-hump components exist and may be stable. Families of unstable scalar solitons can be stabilized in the vectorial form, due to the coupling to a stable second component.
